


Too tired to go home

by Trinxy



Category: Castle
Genre: F/M, precinct, sleepy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-21
Updated: 2012-10-21
Packaged: 2017-11-16 18:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/542617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trinxy/pseuds/Trinxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If the couch in the break room could tell a stories - it could write a book. A snippets of our favourite pair. In the break room. Catching their sleep. Oneshots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_January 2010... some cold day in the midst of winter._

When Castle arrives on the homicide floor of the 12th precinct, it's empty. As far as his eyes can see there is nobody in the room, not even in the glass-paneled offices. He steps into the abandoned room and checks the time on his iPhone.  _Wow_ , it's still early - only 7 am. He can't remember right away why he came to the precinct so early. He hums softly, thinking out loud. ' _Oh yeah_ ,' he wanted to share some new ideas about the case with her.

Slowly, he makes his way in front of the murder board. Sitting down at Beckett's desk, he starts thinking about the case. He is tracing the connections with his fingers and muttering under his breath, going slowly over every little detail he can find on the board. Since the day before, he has been thinking about this case almost nonstop. Now he just needs to see if his, yet again crazy, theory would make sense in light of new details. It takes him almost ten minutes to recap all the info and he starts to notice his surroundings again.

The precinct still seems empty. There are usually more people in the room when he comes in. But then again, he hasn't really been in the precinct that early in the morning. He cranes his neck, looking over the entire room - it's deserted. And it feels really weird to be alone in here. He stands up from the desk in order to walk and sneak around. He stops abruptly, when he realises that some of the papers from her desk decided to attach themselves to his bottom. He catches them with his hand and puts them on Beckett's desk again. Her desktop is messy, he notices. As if time had stopped from yesterday and she had left without cleaning up a bit. There are files everywhere, pictures of crime scene with every gory detail spread across the top. Some of the ME reports seem to be there too, as well as the older case files, connected to the new murder.

' _Hmmm.'_  he wonders out loud. It is un-Beckett-like to leave her things like this. He looks over in every direction to ask somebody about the files, but no souls are in sight, still. Shaking his head he straightens himself and makes his way to the break room in order to make himself a cup of coffee and sit down for a little while until Beckett or other detectives show up.

He arrives in the break room and heads to the espresso machine that he managed to deliver there the year before. He smiles when he sees the shiny machine. It makes damn good coffee. He walks to the cupboard at the opposite wall and opens the doors. He takes a clean cup inside and it emanates a soft clinking sound when it collides with other cups. At that moment he hears a sudden in-take of breath, just like somebody is in the room. His heart picks up speed and he turns around fast.

He opens his mouth to make a comment, but he sees something that changes his mind. The inhale came from the woman who is currently sleeping on the couch. She has propped up her legs and surrounded them with a little blanket. Her head rests on the back of the couch, her whole body tilted to the right. Her eyes are closed and her hands are loosely holding a case folder which starts slipping away from her grasp. Her mouth is open a little bit, her chest rising and falling with the sleepy rhythm of her breathing. There is a slight blush on her cheeks, coming from the sleep and warmth from the blanket - that threatens to fall down from her shoulders.

He freezes for a moment. Not knowing what to do. He has never seen her spend the night in the precinct, let alone seeing her sleep. Making up his mind, he takes a few steps to the coffee maker and places his cup there, his eyes never leaving the sleeping form. Quietly, he makes his way in the direction of the couch, not wanting to wake her. He stops and stands there, just looking at her. She looks so adorable when she is sleeping. So peaceful, so relaxed.  _'Does she sleep here a lot?'_ he wonders in his mind.

The blanket, or scarf to be exact, falls off her shoulder with a soft whisper. He steps closer and rearranges the soft fabric, tucking her in. The case folder falls onto the couch with a small thump and he freezes again, fearing the noise would wake her. But instead of waking, she moves herself in her sleep and mumbles sweetly, a smile on her face _"...Cas... mmm... Castle..."_  and she falls silent again, her breathing evening out.

He just stands there, mouth open in surprise. He doesn't know what to do. That is the last thing he hoped to hear from her. The woman seems to dislike him mostly. And now... she... is dreaming about him? The glow of a smile appears on his face and he straightens himself. He observes her for a little while with a smug grin on his face, standing next to the couch. He is openly admiring his partner sleeping, taking in the soft glow of her dreams and her relaxed state.

" _Admiring the view?"_  suddenly a soft whisper from behind him jerks him from his dreamy state. He jumps a little and propels himself around to see where the voice came from. Kevin Ryan is standing at the doorway, looking at both of them. Castle breathes in a few times, forcing his heart into a slower pace.

" _You scared the crap out of me!"_  he whispers back with force. Ryan just smirks at him, coming in to the break room.

"What are you doing here so early?" he asks, low voiced.

Castle shuffles closer to the detective and answers "I couldn't sleep. I thought it was a good idea to come in early." He throws a glance to the empty homicide floor. "But apparently not." he adds.

Ryan nods and smirks. "Yeah, it's not usually very busy here in the early hours." he agrees.

There is a silence between them for a moment. Castle steps closer to the table that Ryan is standing next to. He points to the sleeping Beckett and asks the detective. "Does this happen a lot?"

Ryan nods and shares "Well, from time to time. She makes a habit of using the break room couch as a bed when she is working on difficult cases... But she hasn't done it in a long time."

"Hmm..." Castle makes an agreeing sound. "Should we wake her?"

"Naah, let her sleep," he explains quietly. "She probably hasn't slept much, so let her be until she wakes up herself."

Castle nods. Ryan turns himself around and heads out from the break room. Castle stands there, torn between following the male detective and staying in the breakroom. Finally he decides to follow Ryan and he makes his way out of the room as silently as he can.

xxxxxxxxxx

He sneaks back into the room quarter of an hour later. He remembered that he forgot to make coffee like he had planned to do before. He tiptoes inside the room heading for the coffee machine, glancing at the sleeping woman a few times. She is still soundly sleeping. He smiles while he pushes the buttons of the espresso maker and places the coffee cup in its place. The machine starts to make horribly loud noises, piercing the silence of the break room. He is horrified and starts immediately pushing random buttons on the machine to stop the loud noises.  _"Damn, damn, damn..."_  he hisses out loud. When the machine finally stops, having filled the cup with coffee, he turns himself around slowly, checking if she has woken up.

Beckett has her eyes open and she is blinking them hard as if trying to understand where she is. She slowly becomes more awake and her eyes travel around the room. Finally she notices him standing by the coffee machine, apologetic look on his face.

_"Castle?"_  she asks her voice hoarse from sleep, blush starting to rise on her cheeks. "What are you doing here?"

He takes the coffee cup from the tray and raises it up, breathing in a quick gasp and asks "Coffee?"


	2. Chapter 2

_ Spring 2011… a morning in the precinct. _

It's really warm. And cozy. These are the first things that come into Beckett's mind when she starts to slowly wake. It feels awkward tho. Something feels off. Wrong. The sense of warmth surrounding her comes into her mind again. She yawns and slowly stretches herself, waiting the feeling of enveloping warmth to go away, as it always does. But it doesn't go away. The warmth stays there. Surrounding her like a cloud of love. She smiles. It feels really good. She hasn't felt that way in a long time. Without thinking further, she snuggles herself even more comfortably and starts to drift off again.

But she hears something that doesn't make any sense. Low hum of the coffee machine. Since when she has a coffee machine in her room? In her sleep riddled state she furrows her brows, thinking hard. The sound is mixed with slow breathing that comes from close by. Breathing? Something is really off. Josh is supposed to be in Haiti. There's nobody at home but her. Where's the breathing coming?

When she hears Esposito's "Yo!" echoing through the precinct floor, the realization hits her. This isn't her home. Or her bedroom. It isn't a nice lonely night underneath the warm blanket. She isn't comfortable. She's at the precinct.

Her eyes snap open. Not really understanding where she's at, she tries to yank herself up. But she can't. There's a warm and heavy hand around her chest, holding her in place. She falls back with a soft thump. Her head lands in someone's warm lap.

She closes her eyes in frustration. Takes in a breath. Trying to remember what is happening. Everything starts flooding back to her now. The case. Pellegrini's case. It's still up on the murder board. And they still don't have any idea who might have killed him. But why are they in the break room? Why are they lying in the couch? In warm embrace of each other. For a second, she smiles. It is warm. And it feels nice. And it's Castle.

_Castle!_ She realizes. She does that too late. She is lying on the couch. Her head is in the lap of Richard Castle. And his warm arms are surrounding her. Keeping her in place. Safe. Oh god. She is sleeping with Richard Castle.  _Not sleeping together... Just. Falling asleep_ , she reminds to herself. Oh god. Oh god, what to do.

_Get yourself together!_ She tells to herself. She needs to get the act together. No matter how much she likes him surrounding her, she can't. It's Castle. He is the crazy playboy, with an eye for blondes. And... well. She is already with somebody. She can't, no... She can't.

She starts to move away from him, trying to get his hand off from her. She laces her fingers around his wrist and lifts his hand. This draws out a frown from his sleepy state. He forcefully brings his hand around her again and pulls her closer to him.

"Don't wake up yet, Kate. Stay with me," he mumbles through his sleep. She sighs and rests her head back to his lap. She looks at his silent form for a few moments. He looks so peaceful. But. She has to wake him up. There is no way SleepyCastle could release her.

"Castle!" she whispers sharply. He wrinkles his nose through the haze of his sleep.

"Castle! Wake up!" she tries again, now shaking his arm too.

Finally, the guy opens an eye. His sight is foggy and she can see that he doesn't realize where he is. Or. Where  _they_ are. He closes them promptly again.

"Castle, you have to let me go." Kate tries to lift away his arm again.

"Why?" he asks sleepily, not even bothering to open his eyes.

She huffs out a frustrated breath. "Because I say so," she answers back and nudges his arm again. "Castle, let me go."

"No," he says again and snuggles her closer again. She realizes that he's still not awake. Dreaming. Is he dreaming about  _them?_

"Castle! Wake up!" she yells out a little more loudly. This gets his attention. He opens his eyes fully now. It takes time for whole full seconds to him to realize where they are. He looks at her down in his lap. And then his gaze wanders to their joined hands. He realizes, she wants him to let her go. Startled, he lifts his hand away fast.

"I am sorry," he offers an apology fast. She doesn't waste any time getting up. With no time, they are both up from the couch and staring at each other. There is some awkward energy flowing between them now. They just stand there, in silence. Beckett is avoiding Castle's eyes. And there is a blush on her cheeks. He doesn't understand yet what happened. But something happened - to make Beckett flushed.

"What happened?" he asks from her. She is picking up the folders from the ground. They must have fallen down while they were at the couch, asleep.

"We fell asleep," comes the short answer from her. She doesn't even look up at him.

"We were here all night?" he asks again, surprised. He can't stifle the yawn coming and he opens his mouth to let it loose.

"It seems so." She picks up the last paper from the ground and places it to the folder. She stands up and looks at him.

"You slept well?" he asks, smirk on his face.

That brings a small smile to her lips, blush keeps getting more intense. "I think so. For sleeping at couch, it was enough." And with that, she steps past him, towards the door.

He smiles at his answer and can't stop himself commenting "I have known to be a good pillow."

He doesn't get an answer back. Instead she opens the door and starts walking to her desk. When he steps out of the break room too, he notices Ryan and Esposito sitting behind their desks. They glance at both of them and they can't suppress a bubbling laughter.

Beckett throws them a warning glance, but that doesn't stop them from laughing.

"What's up?" Castle asks from the boys, trying to look innocent as a schoolboy.

Esposito looks at him as if trying to say  _'Really?'_

"I don't know, you tell me?" Esposito answers back to him. "We weren't the ones snuggled up cozily at each other's arms."

That brings out another breath of laughter from Ryan. Oh, they are having a field day. Before Castle can say anything back he hears Beckett.

"Shut it, Esposito," she says without looking up to the boys and Castle. "Or you'll be doing paperwork rest of the day."

Both of the boys frown in unison and Esposito huffs something that sounds like  _'partypooper_ '.

Castle just sits down to his chair. He watches her and is surprised how professional she looks. Just few minutes ago, she was snuggled up his arms and face flushed. And now, no signs of that Kate. Only Beckett. He sighs. Oh well. Maybe someday again.

**Author's Note:**

> The idea came to me when I was listening some old interviews of BTS Castle. The image stuck with me until I wrote it down. I hope you like it!


End file.
